The Fall of the North
by Esnemon
Summary: The North has started to colapse after the death of the Stark. Treason, death and thugs are starting to rise everywhere. Lords die and new Lords show up. The Starks can't live without the North... but can the North live without the Starks?


A NIGHT DARKER THAN A CROW'S WINGS

This is my first story. And A Song of Ice and Fire isn't an easy universe to write about. So please, be patient. I may have detailed too much, that will decrease if you want in the next stories, but this was importante to be detailed because was the begining. And yes, there is much you will learn about the character and the situation in the future, you just got to know him and his first night has a fugitive. This will get much more interesting and complex in the next chapters, I hope. Please leave a feedback.

Also, english isn't my mother language.

 _ **Chapter 1**_

 **James**

They had been gone for hours. The snow was beginning to thicken on the dirt road, and the cart threatened dangerously to fall from the narrow rail that followed. James had never felt so cold. Not like that. He had walked in the darkness, on the coldest nights, escaped from captivity, and only had the clothes that had not been taken by his jailers.

 _At least I'm free. I will die as a free man, if it has to be._

The woman beside him trembled. She had been strangely quiet by then. James had feared she'd given in to the intense chill she felt. _Not yet,_ he thought.

 _ **\- We are about to arrive, he heard the wagon driver say, we will not find any thugs so close to the village.**_

James had never visited the village. He had lived for years cloistered in the vastness of his lands, squandering and living in eccentricities. I've never needed it, but now my father is dead and I'm a fugitive. I am no more than these people.

For weeks he had seen his father die in battle, along with most of his most loyal men. Men who were family to him. It had been his first time in combat, and his father had assured him it would be an easy victory. But they had failed, and now the few survivors had deserted to escape the new Lord, who looked for them like a wild dog.

 _Wild dogs_ , he thought. He had been pursued by dozens of men. Nobles, trying to please the new Lord. Some of them had once been loyal to their father. They had hunted him, on foot and on horseback, armed with everything they had better. They made me their prey, and they enjoyed the game. But they had not been the ones James had most feared. The dogs. Trained for Lord Runnington's great hunts, they had been dropped off occasionally to look for James as he fled. They had almost caught him, and the cost to escape them had been great, and he would never again maneuver a sword with his right arm so quickly. There would be no where to get one, anyway.

The rest of the trip went as expected. The view of the village was more refreshing than any meal I had eaten in the last few days. Finally, he could rest and feed himself in conditions.

 _If I don't get hanged in the public square first_ , he murmured.

It was getting dark when he jumped out of the wagon.

 _ **\- It's time to do the math. You promised a purse of gold, or life. It's time to pay one.**_

The wagon driver knew who he was. He had recognized him. To avoid being handed over to the lord, James had promised the man a big payment, but he had never suspected that he would reach the end of his journey. Only the two of them remained, the remaining passengers had already left the wagon toward the small tavern that seemed to fill up for the usual nighttime activity.

 _ **\- As promised. I always paid what I owed,**_ he murmured as he handed the man a small, dirty sack.

The man accepted the bag and smiled. James knew: the man had not been fooled by the copper coins instead of the gold ones. She'd hoped the night would distort the driver's vision enough so she could escape with enough advance so she would not have to worry about him, but now everything would change.

The man stepped forward. Taurus, as they called him in and around the village, was a man still of a reasonable age, and he lived up to the nickname: robust and powerful, and temperamental. His psychotic smile widened until he finally reached James, unable to resist him. She choked him and pushed him into the wagon so hard that the horses were frightened and threatened to flee, but they soon calmed down, seemingly accustomed to these situations.

James felt it, the air was beginning to thin, and his throat tightened against the aggressor's hands.

 _ **\- It seems that after all I will only get the reward. I meant to keep both of you, after you paid me, but it seems like it does not seem like a man at all after all, is it?**_

Blood. It was the only thing he felt, then, fresh air. He opened his eyes only to see red. In his hand, Taurus's dagger. _He never felt me reaching for it. Maybe I am better thief than I though._

He hid his body as best he could and thanked the darkness. The horses were uneasy about transporting a corpse on the wagon, but he wasnt comfortable either. Now that he had his money, he could get a room, a hot meal, and a woman.

Entering the tavern, he came across an incredible scenery. Men and women celebrated what seemed to be the return of the Lord's troops.

They have recovered their husbands and their children, he thought, and now they celebrate it by spending the savings they had to keep for the winter.

And winter was coming. He knew it. His father had received the crow from the citadel warning of his arrival. To the north, Winterfell had begun to prepare for winter's arrival.

 _Winterfell_ , he thought. He had only visited Winterfell once when his father had been called by Lord Stark. That's where it all began.

 _ **-The thugs have been getting worse. They are attacking innocents now. They stopped from simply attacking small transports of groceries to start attacking the Lord's troops.**_

 _ **-Bandits? They have lost everything to fight for our true Lord! We should help them. - a sturdy woman, as you would expect. Only one would have the courage to do so. And drunk.**_

 _ **Pay attention to what you say, woman. We have a new Lord, whether you like it or not. Lord Edan died in combat and James is captive if he is alive. And anyway, he did not deserve to be Lord, "shouted one of the soldiers, too, closer to unconsciousness than to clarity of mind.**_

They were talking about his father's men. He wished he could be with them now. James knew he could not stay there for long. He ordered a beer and a meal and rented the cheapest room, where he ate, afraid he would be recognized if he stayed there any longer. And then he heard. The first cry of many.

 _ **\- They killed him! They killed my husband! He was one of the men he transported for sure! Get him!**_

James now had two options. Or he waited in the room for a dozen soldiers to break the door and capture him for Taurus's murder, or he could escape. I just needed to know how. He could not stay to be captured, he knew it was only a matter of time before they proved him, and everyone in the tavern knew he had been one of the passengers. And then he heard their footsteps on the stairs.

 _ **It's time to do the unexpected, and face my problems once and for all**_ , he shouted, advancing towards the door.

The door opened with a crash as one of the soldiers prepared to enter, James attacked. He tore her throat with the dagger and pushed him back as hard as he had. He had caught the latter by surprise, but the next ones drew their swords. As James had hoped. The heavy body fell against the rest. It was a large mass of people in a small space. They were pushed by the soldier's dead weight and fell down the stairs, one on top of the other. Of swords already drawn, what followed was a carnage. Surprised by the fall, and falling on top of each other, they accidentally mutilated themselves. Some died instantly, swords piercing their still bodies. Others had just been injured. Some had bodies on them and could not get up. The floor was now a pool of blood and bodies. All shouted and fled, calling for the help of more soldiers. James had little time to act, very little time.

Well, I did not think this was going to work, and by now I'd expected to be dead by one of the big boys, he thought. But it seems I've only postponed my death, and made it much slower.

The few seconds he still had of freedom, he began to admire the carnage he had caused. A real mess. The butterfly effect. The fall of one had caused the death of others in jail. New soldiers entered the Tavern, but this time it would not be worth fighting ...

And then, everything went blur.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
